[Christy]

I completed some beautiful resin panels on commission. They dried clear. I packaged them carefully with a sheet of wax paper, wrapped in cellophane, and padded with bubble-wrap. When they were received, they were covered in large cloudy patches with some clear patches showing through. Did one of my packing materials do this? I have more to send and I need to make sure this does not happen to the rest of them!

[Katherine Swift]

Oh Christy, how awful! Do you have a picture you can share (email it to us if you don’t have a link). What kind of resin? Is the surface distorted or simply cloudy?

[Katherine Swift]

Christy emailed pictures to share:

Here is a close up of a panel before (totally clear surface –there is sand obscuring the back)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and what was received….

 

 

 

 

 

 

the back of it also took on a rippled effect that was probably the cellophane. This suggests to me that it was not fully cured? These are 30″ long but only .5″ deep. After reading the instructions and watching the videos for the resin I used, I estimated a week of curing outside the mold would be plenty of time, but I think I might have been way off. I also did a few light layers of resin sealant to help the top harden. I’m wondering if that was the wrong thing to do. I live in a very dry area and they were shipped to an area with more humidity but about same temperatures (warm). I just wish I knew which factor to address. I don’t want to have to refund her money and quit the job if it is something I can fix.
Will it clear on its own? Is there a method to fix it? Do I need to let the panels cure for a LOT longer? Did I need to use more catalyst (using max quantities per the can instructions)?
So many unknowns to me. In the future if I continue to work with resins I will become a major fan of your website. I wish I had found it before I started this venture! Thank you for taking the time to troubleshoot. I really appreciate it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Christy,

If I’m interpreting the pictures correctly, it looks like the shell in the center of the second picture (with the clear resin still around it) is raised? I ask because it leads me to believe that the areas that came in contact with the wax paper (the first layer) seems to be the problem.

What kind of resin did you use?

[Christy]

Hi Katherine,
Yes, you are right… the shell was -slightly- raised but still covered in resin. I can see the tenting effect you are seeing. I also made the mistake of calling it wax paper; it was parchment paper. The back of her panels were only covered in cellophane and they were also compromised. They were not cloudy but bumpy. They were hard when I wrapped them so I had nothing to tell me they had not cured fully if that is the case. So if they had not cured in this time… would they still have cured if I had left them alone longer? I used TAP Plastics Clear-Lite Casting Resin and followed their instructions. I also coated it with several light coats of Castin’ Craft Resin Spray as they recommended. I will put in a call Monday directly to TAP Plastics to get their take on this too.
Thank you again for helping me with this! –Christy

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Christy,

I had something similar happen when a sales rep for my jewelry sent me pieces back that had been made with Easy Cast resin. The jewelry had been tacked to display boards, then stacked with soft cloths (think baby diapers) in between in each board. When she returned them to me, she didn’t include the soft cloths. The stack of boards stuck to each other (the resin jewelry stuck to the board on top/front of it for an entire pile of 10 boards). Once I pulled them apart, I could see the resin had stuck to the plastic coated board above this. I go through all of this because I wonder if the problem is ‘plastic’ or something similar in the paper (like what I experienced). Both of my shipments occurred at a hot time of year, which didn’t help matters, but didn’t impact using fabric as packing material.

Long story short, I use fabric (diapers, washcloths, etc.) now to pack my resin pieces instead of anything plastic. I wonder if that would help you here. I also wonder whether or not another coat of the gloss sealer spray would cover up the blemishes. For my pieces, some I was able to buff out the marks, while others that had deeper indentations from the boards, I had to recoat with resin.

What did TAP plastics share with you?

[Christy]

That’s interesting. You would think the fabric might stick to the resin, etc… but maybe the wicking effect is what was missing and my plastic trapped the humidity and somehow reacted with the panel. Since the large pieces are a state away, I hesitate to put my client through the trouble of repacking them and spending $ to send them back. If they picked up some element from the parchment paper, wouldn’t pouring more resin over them just embed the element? I’m not sure the extra layer of spray would work either since it appears that the cloudy substance is a full “level” above the clear, so it wouldn’t be perfectly smooth.

TAP Plastics pretty much said I did everything right and that it should have cured. So it was an official, “huh.” I’m still trying to get someone on that end who can work out if I maybe got some resin that was off? If they still can’t help, I guess I’ll let the next one cure for a month, wrap it in fabric and see if it arrives unharmed. Stay tuned for the next chapter! …

[Katherine Swift]

The only reason I can think the fabric worked better is that heat doesn’t really both it. It seems like plastic (or something similar) can get hot and start to melt. Maybe even newspaper would be a better choice?

Thanks for the update. Hoping the next ones go better!

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